We ruined Trujillo and Huanchaca
Trip Start
Nov 20, 2009
1
23
25
Trip End
Feb 27, 2010
Trujillo, Peru
Monday, February 15, 2010
The bus drove along beautiful stark coastline which was steep sand cliffs. At one point, we passed the remains of a tranport which had gone over the edge. Several men were trekking up the sheer cliff, carrying the boards from the side of the transport. Free wood!
We drove for hours through very stark dessert where nothing at all was growing, except for where there was an oasis and then it there was sugar cane and what looked like asparagus plants.
The amount of vast dessert here is much more than what we ever thought that we would see. There are literally hundreds of miles of nothing but sand. However, scattered among the dunes, people live here in very small groups or in individual homes. You have to wonder what they do to live.
This area has many pre Incan ruins dating from 200 to 800 AD and are in good shape due to the very dry climate.
We spent a day touring several different ruin sites here. The temples are made from adobe bricks and have survived so well, since they have very little rain here. Some of the bricks contain the personal marks of the individuals who made them....handprints, drawings, smiley faces, etc. At the Temple of the Sun and Moon the site has been uncovered and opened to show five levels of the temple built over several different king's rules. The sheer size of the temple is amazing.
Chan Chan is a huge complex which is being reconstructed. It covers many hectares of land and is only 1 of 18 temples and was one of the smallest. The maze like hallways and individual rooms were very fascinating.
It was a very interesting day and at the end of the trip, we went to Huanchaca, a very small surfing village, just outside of Trujillo.. It was quaint and quiet and we enjoyed it. The fishermen here still use the small, individual reed boats and that´s a big tourist attraction for the town. There were lots of surfers working the waves and it was fun to watch them try to ¨catch the big one¨.
We were fortunate to catch a display of local Peruvian folk dances. The embroidery on the costumes was quite something0, It´s colourful, very intricate and there is lots of it. I´m just glad I wasn´t one of those dancers, out in the heat, under many heavy layers of clothing, dancing so hard.
One night we had a large rain, and in the morning, outside of one of the restaurants, were 75-100 huge dead cockroaches! Uggh...it reminded us that we are in the tropics, and that for sure we don´t want to see inside the kitchen where anyone is cooking the meals! Sometimes, ignorance is bliss!
We took an overnight bus to another beach, Mancora, Peru, 9 hours north, and about 200 kms from the border of Ecudar. This town is famous for the surfing and the level of surfers is definietly higher. The beach is much nicer and it´s a very busy place right now, since it´s carnaval. We were lucky to get a place to stay, since we hadn´t reserved ahead, but our place is great, and comes with a hammock and ocean view.Aahhh! This is a great way to spend Valentine´s day and to celebrate Darlene´s birthday!
This town supposedly has the best ceviche is all of Peru, so we´ve definitley make a dent in that. The seafood dishes we´ve seen are very tasty, so fish will be the main ingredient until we leave here.
We´re much closer to the equator, so it´s warmer and the sun apparently shines all day every day here, which will be very nice. There´s not any shade at these beaches, so our time in the sun is very limited. However, we won´t count jumping in the huge waves as sun time! What fun!
Our next stop will be in Quito, Ecuador, and we´ll be back up at about 11,000 feet and in the mountains.
We´re winding down our trip and are starting to plan our return home for sometime in the next couple of weeks.
